Des Moines eviction research
City-level context for eviction filings in Des Moines, Iowa. Cited figures are labeled. Missing figures are omitted.
Court and process (high level)
An eviction in Des Moines is a court case, not a lockout. The owner files; the tenant has a chance to answer; a hearing may be set; a judgment, if entered, is not possession. A writ executed by the local sheriff, marshal, or constable is typically required before a setout. We do not guarantee any of those intervals.
Iowa forcible-entry-and-detainer actions are typically filed in the small-claims docket of district court.
This page does not claim EvictIQ has completed cases in Des Moines. Use it for process context and cited public data only.
Census Vintage 2024 population estimate: 213,096. Population is not an eviction statistic.
Primary county (largest Census place-part): Polk County. Places can cross county lines.
Cited 2016 Eviction Lab figures
1,118
Eviction judgments in 2016 (Eviction Lab city rankings). A judgment is an order that a renter leave — not a filing count.
3.24%
Judgments per 100 renter households, 2016, Eviction Lab. This is a rate, not a ranking we computed from EvictIQ cases.
Source: Princeton Eviction Lab, 2016 city rankings extract, GEOID 1921000. Eviction Lab rankings. Filing counts for this city are not in that extract, so they are omitted.
Using this as research, not a hire form
Eviction Labs publishes geography and method. Eviction services — if you need them — live on sister sites, not as the point of these pages.